Been Down So Long
by NewBlood158
Summary: "You are kind of infamous."
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_**_ I was watching The Breakfast Club for the millionth and started having ideas. BenderXOC, of course. I really shouldn't be doing this when I have so many other stories on the go but oh well, let's see how this goes, or see if people actually want me to keep this going. In this story the characters are in 11th grade. I think that's where they are at in the film. If not, correct me. _

_Rather **M **for safety in later chapters. Also for Language._

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Breakfast Club or the characters. But the OC's are all mine._**

**_Edit* I've gone back and edited this chapter, mainly because I gave it a re-read and was not happy with what I wrote._**

* * *

Bender lay in bed, staring at the alarm clock on his bedside table as four past six blinked in bright neon letters. His stomach was twisted into a knot and no matter how much he tried he couldn't will himself back to sleep. He fingered the diamond earring in his ear, wondering if today would be any different. If that Monday he would walk into school and Claire would actually approach him, talk to him, kiss him…maybe?

But his mind kept wandering back to what she said. That she would never be friends with the outcasts, Brian, Allison…John…friends with high society? It would never work. Of course, at the time, even though he had hated her for saying it he had secretly agreed with her, although he would never had said it out loud. A small part of him wished it wasn't true.

Finally he forced himself up, showered, dressed, ignored the yells from his dad as he left the house and started the long walk to school. For once he was actually going to be on time.

"Bender! Hey Bender!"

As soon as he walked through the school doors there stood Brian with his group of friend in toe, even though they all looked like they were in fear for their friend's life. Brian was actually keeping his word, the least Bender could do was reciprocate.

"Morning Johnson." Bender replied in a bored tone. "Johnson's dwebs."

Brian chose to ignore the dwebs comment. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"Yeah, well." He shrugged, eyes wandering up and down the halls. He reckoned he could catch Claire before class, have a quiet word, that was until he saw her walking up the hallway with her tweezed and feathered to perfection friends. Even so, he's suddenly standing straighter, ignoring whatever Brian is jabbering on about.

Claire was mid laugh when she notices him, her eyes darting back between Bender and Brian before she snaps her head back to her blonde friend, the whole group walk past them like they would with anything they believe to be of lower standing, like they didn't exit. But Brian can't keep his mouth shut.

"Claire! Hey!"

All the girls turn, all with horrified looks on their faces, but Claire looks like she could die then and then. It's the perky brunette who speaks first.

"Aww Claire, you didn't tell us you got a new boyfriend." The three girls with Claire burst into shrill laughs, and the perky brunette looks to Claire for approval. Claire smiles, but shoots Brian and Bender a sad look as her and her friends carry on down the hall. It's one of them asking Claire who on earth that loser was that makes Bender feel slightly sorry for him. He can see the disappointment in Brian's face as the poor guy realises every word Claire had told them was true.

"She told you Johnson. She told you exactly what she would do today. Don't feel shitty about it."

"Yeah. I guess. Thanks."

Bender knew he wasn't going to get a minute alone with Claire, although in that moment he wanted to pull her aside and tell her how much of a bitch he was for going along with it. He was going to have to save that for later. "Don't suppose you've seen Klepto around her?"

"Oh, Allison? She's by her locker down there. I need to get to home room anyway. I'll see you later Bender."

With a nod Bender started to head down the hall, already spotting Allison a mile off. She's attempting to shove that giant coat of hers into her tiny locker, and she's back to her 'I've just been pulled through a bush' look. He treads carefully behind her, remaining quiet, before suddenly slamming his fist on the locker next to hers, causing the poor girl to jump in fright, and several of the other people in the hallway to give him irritated glares. He can't help but be pleased.

"I want my padlock back, and, I want my knife you little thief."

Allison blew the hair from her face and he sees the black shit she always wears around her eyes has lessened significantly. She glares at him before rummaging round her bag, first pulling out the padlock and placing it in his hand, then bringing out the knife.

He shoved the items into his pants pocket as he watches her attempting to close her bulging locker. After watching in amusement for a moment he pushes against it, forcing it to close properly. "You spoke to Sporto?"

Allison nodded as she bent down and shoved the books she had littered on the floor around her feet into her bag. "Before School. He said he wanted to go out Saturday."

"You gonna leave me all on my lonesome in detention then?"

The bell rang and Allison finally stood back up, brushing the hair from her face. "Did you speak to Claire?"

Bender scowled, but gave a curt nod as he leaned against the locker. "Apparently Cherry has better things to do than be seen with a burnout."

She gave him a sorry look but quickly changed the subject. "Brian's having lunch with me, if you want to join."

Bender rolled his eyes. "Jock Strap not eating with you? Doesn't want to be seen with you in school?"

"He has a meet." Allison shrugged slightly as she pulled the heavy bag on to her shoulder. "I don't know about Claire, John. But Brian and I won't ignore you. Neither will Andrew." With that she finally turns to go to her homeroom leaving Bender alone in the now empty hallway.

* * *

"Mr Bender, gracing us with your presence today?"

He's late for his first class, English. Mainly because he skipped homeroom so he could go outside and have a smoke instead. "Well, I should once in a while."

The ageing teacher, Mr Barrington, with this rotund belly and grey hair shakes his head as he turns back to board and continues to write. He's knows sending John to detention will do more harm than good.

Bender slumped down in his seat at the back and crossed his feet on the table. At least he could get an hours shut eyes before having to go to metal shop. It's too cold to sleep under the bleachers outside in March, he'd probably get frostbite.

"Today, you will work in pairs; you will choose one of the topics off the board and will discuss how it is presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. You will write a three minute speech on the topic which one of you, or both, can present next lesson. Miss Hunter, because your desk partners off sick you'll have to go it alone I'm afraid."

Bender opened one eye and looked at the girl in front of him, but all he could see was her long brown hair tied up into a ponytail. His arm immediately shot up.

Barrington sighed. "Bender."

"And why can't she work with me, sir? I have no partner either."

The teacher's greys eyes stared down Bender for a moment before they flickered over to the girl. "Miss Hunter, you can work alone…or with…Mr Bender. Your choice."

All the classes' eyes seemed to be on her as she turned back and Bender finally gets to see her face. He recognizes her, he's seen her around school, he knows straight away she's not of the popular crowd. She wouldn't stand out in her dark grey jacket and tweed skirt, at least not to them. Her dark eyes shift over him, and he sees her swallow hard. He's actually a little surprised when she gets up from her seat and grabs her things. But she just stands there, staring down at him for a moment until he pulls his feet from the desk and she finally takes a seat.

"What topic should we do?" She asks quietly, flipping open her notebook.

Bender stares at the blackboard, reading the topics over and over, but he just doesn't care, he doesn't have the energy to care.

"Have you even read it?" She continues.

Bender looks over at her, studying her dark eyes, soft lips, he finally forces a smug little smile. "Nope."

"If you don't care about the work why did you ask to partner with me?"

He leans closer, his face so close to hers he can feel her breath against his skin. "Maybe I just wanted to get a bit closer to you."

"You're vile." She sighs, turning her attention back to board.

"If I'm so vile why did you sit next to me?"

"Because I don't want to speak in front of the class." She replies matter-of-factly as she starts to write. "I'll write it and you can read it out. I guess I can do the growing up thing, that shouldn't be too hard. "

"I'm not reading it out." He states as he picks up the book and starts flicking through the pages.

"If I do all the work you can at least read it out."

"Well maybe, I just won't come in next lesson."

She glares at him for a moment before looking back to her work. "Do what you want."

She starts scribbling stuff down as Bender eyes drift around the classroom. Everyone is in their pairs, chatting away, some of them laughing; he looks down at the girl next to him and thinks about not being a dick for a minute, did having those complete strangers spill their souls out to him teach him nothing?

He opens his mouth to say something, ask her name, ask if there is something he could do, but he just shuts it and lets out a small huff instead. She probably thought he was just another burnout just like everyone else did; she was probably just sitting next to him because she was put on the spot and felt intimidated. He was good at that.

He starts reading random pages of the book but has no idea what's going on. It makes him feel stupid, and kind of angry, he suddenly wants to lug the book across the room and storm out.

Bender doesn't notice her looking at him, or that fact she notices the angry scowl on his face. "Just start from the beginning." She said quietly. "Nothing makes sense if you start in the middle."

He glances at her before flicking to the front of the book. "You got a first name, Hunter?"

"Janis. And you're John."

"How'd you know that?"

"You are kind of infamous. And we've been in the same class for three years."

He rolls his eyes and goes back to reading, eyes glancing at her occasionally.

At lunchtime Bender sits at his usual spot under the bleachers, smoking the last of his weed. It's cold which means it's quiet, everyone's in the cafeteria and his friends have decided to skip school today while he made the stupid mistake of coming in, thinking things might be actually be a bit different. He flicks the page of the book. Chapter three. It's not so bad actually, considering it's one the school is forcing them to read. At the sound of hurried footsteps walking across the empty field he snaps it shut and shoves the book into the inside of his coat.

He's staring at the ground, the smoke causing his lungs to tingle as he breathes it in heavily, when he sees her stupid brown boots come into view. Looking up he clicks his neck and shakes the hair from his eyes. "Shouldn't you be giggling in the cafeteria?"

Claire pouts slightly, and looks around, as if any moment she's expecting the school royalty to pop up and see her with one of the burnouts.

"I'm sorry, it's just…if they knew what happened Saturday, if they knew us lot were…uh…friends."

"Friends?" Bender spat out. "I'm not your _friend_, Cherry. And apparently you're not Brian's either."

"Yeah I know. But, come on John, you get why, right?"

"When he said hi to me I said hi back." He snapped at her.

"Yeah well you're friends weren't there were they!"

"My friends wouldn't give a shit." He mumbled, taking another long drag. He didn't know if what he said was true, but he hoped it would've been.

She sighed and tightened the hold she had on her books, eyes glancing round yet again. "Well, my dad wasn't happy." She said with a small smile. "The whole car ride home he was lecturing me about you."

"Well that's what you wanted." He said with a sniff and stubbed out the joint on the chair he was sitting on. "Piss off daddy."

Secretly, he knew this was coming. He had spent all Sunday thinking about. There was no way a girl like her would have any interest in him, except for pissing off her parents. Claire had waited until her dad's car pulled up, to give him the earring, to kiss him properly; it was all just a fucking game to her.

"Bender."

He stood up and shrugged. "Well it worked, so I suppose you'll be wanting this back." He starts to loosen the earring from his ear but she's already telling him no. "You can keep it." She says earnestly. He can't help but sneer, of course he could, and daddy would probably get her a replacement.

"I don't want it. We pissed off your dad. We did what you wanted. Told you I would be outstanding."

He places the stud into her hand and starts to walk off towards the school.

"We were doomed from the start Bender!" He hears her call after him. All he can think is fuck you too.

He sits opposite Allison in the cafeteria who gives out a small squeak when he thumps down in front of her. They stare at each other absently for a moment before she pushes the other half of her sandwich towards him. He grudgingly accepts.

"Did you see Claire?"

He takes a large bite out the sandwich, wincing at the sugar overload in his mouth. He's actually glad when Brian takes a seat with them and shoots them both a smile before pulling his all food groups included lunch out, it means that he doesn't have to answer Allison's question.

Bender gazes around as he takes another bite out of the Pixie stix sandwich, feeling actual pain in his teeth as he chews. He notices the few stares the three of them are getting from the students surrounding their table, a quick scowl soon sends them back to eating their own lunches and less of staring at them like they're freaks at a side show.

"How the fuck do you eat this shit every day? I can practically feel cavities forming."

Allison smiles as she empties the last of her pixie stix into her mouth, flinging the empty tube over her shoulder.

"Do you have my book?"

He almost chokes on the sugary buttery lump in his mouth when he heard Janis's voice. "What?" He asks, mouth still full of food, careful to make sure she sees the contents and is quite pleased with himself when he sees Janis pull a disgusted face.

"My mockingbird book. You were reading it in lit then as soon as the bell went you ran out and now I can't find it."

"Are you accusing me of stealing?" He remark, making sure he came off as insulted.

"No. You were getting into it so I thought you might have borrowed it to read. I don't care if you have it; I just want to know when –"

"I don't have your stupid book Hunter, move on."

Bender suddenly noticed Alice eating very quickly, eyes flickering back and forth between the two of them. Brian was gently sipping on his soup.

"Ok, fine. I was just asking." She sighs and brushes her fringe from her eyes. "You're going to be here Wednesday, right?"

He looked at her blankly.

"English. You need to read the presentation thing."

He sucks in air through his teeth. "Wednesday's not such a good day for me."

As soon as she rolls her eyes he can tell that's she's giving up. "Whatever. Bye Allison."

Allison half attempted a goodbye but her mouth was too full to properly respond. Bender watches Janis and waits until she's sat at her table until he raises a finger to Allison. "How do you know her?"

"Art." She quickly mumbled after she swallowed. "She's really nice."

"She also does photos for the year book. She's taking the physic ones next week. " It was now Brian's turned to get stared blankly at. "Did you take her book?" He adds on quickly before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Bender looked over to Janis's table, making sure she wasn't looking before he opened his coat and showed them the book in the inside pocket.

Allison pulls a face. "You stole it?"

"You're one to talk, Klepto." It occurred to him that as soon as he said that she might be hurt, luckily she smiled and went back to eating her sandwich. "I'll give it back, eventually."

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**_A/N:_**_Review and let me think if you think I'm onto something here. I hope so. Also just tell me if I got anything wrong. I'm British so I'm not entirely sure how the american school thing works._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or even just read it. You are actually the best. And reviews help me become a better writer :)_

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Bender woke up to the sound of crashing plates, loud swearing, and someone screaming bloody murder, but at least for once it wasn't coming from his house. It wasn't exactly a pleasant change but he's become an expert at blocking out shit he doesn't want to hear, so he rolls over and pulls his pillow over his head. Even though he's heard it a million times before, it's still far too early for this shit.

He only manages a moment of silence before his bedroom door is being slammed open and he groans from underneath his pillow.

"Get up; you'll be late for school!" He hates it when his dad is somewhat sober, mainly because he gets up at the crack of dawn just so he can start drinking.

"Kiss my ass." He mumbles into the bed. Unfortunately, the pillow doesn't muffle his voice quite as well as he wanted.

"What did you say to me?"

Bender pulls the pillow from his head and turns to look at the asshole stood in the doorway. Everyone says they look alike, but he can't see any resemblance to the ageing alcoholic stood before him. John decided long ago if he grew up to be like his father, he would throw himself off the nearest bridge.

"I said, I'm getting up."

He father remains in the doorway for a moment, hand still clutching the doorknob. For a minute Bender thinks his dads going to come in, smack him around a bit like he did a couple of nights before, then the old bastard finally speaks. "You know what. Don't bother. Just stay in bed and do nothing all day like you normally do. It's not like the school's going to even notice if you're there or not you fucking low life."

Bender flinches as the door slams shut. "Fuck you." He mutters out loud as he lies back down, fixing the pillow under his head. Staring up at the cracks in his ceiling he waits for the sound of doors slamming and his dads fucked up trucks engines loud roar leaving the front of the house, then he finally pushes himself up and lights a cigarette. Fine. He wouldn't go to school. Like his dad said, it's not like anyone there would give a shit.

When he finally gets up he searches for clean clothes in his room, well, ones that don't smell too bad. He showers, brushes his teeth, gets dressed in the slightly clean clothes, then sits on the counter in kitchen drinking his mum's lukewarm leftover black coffee with too much sugar as he plans what he's going to do for the day. He knows there's something he needs to do that he just can't quite remember but it couldn't have been extremely important, otherwise he wouldn't have forgotten.

Fifteen minutes later he's dressed and searching for his sunglasses that fell underneath his bed. He's decided to go down the Junk yard to look for parts for his bike. It had been a gift from his uncle for his seventeenth birthday a few months back. Quite frankly, it was a piece of shit. It barely run, it needed a new engine, new battery, new wheels, and a new coat of paint. He knew his uncle had given it to him because he couldn't be bothered to fix it himself but Bender didn't really care; now it belonged to him, which was the main thing.

There was something oddly satisfying knowing he was the one fixing it up, that reason it would run one day was all down to him. That's what he had been doing when he spilt paint in the garage, fixing that god damn bike. The cigar had burnt like hell, but he didn't yell or cry out when it singed his flesh, he didn't want to give his old man the satisfaction.

Before leaving he searches his room for every spare dollar and dime he can find before finally resorting to taking some money out of the jar hidden beneath one of the floorboards. He had almost three hundred and forty nine dollars saved so far, a little from selling weed to the morons at school, some of it from doing odd jobs for Thomas Dwight at his auto shop. Sometimes Bender would slip a twenty or a ten into his mum's purse when she wasn't looking, and definitely when he knew that his dad wouldn't go rummaging around in it looking for some beer money. That was only once in a while, he needed to save what he could. Every cent was going to count in the long run.

It takes a thirty minute bus ride and a fifteen minute walk to get to scrap yard on the outskirts of town, but you needed to get there early if you were going to get anything good. Joe David Rodgers, the skinny recovering meth head who owned the place always seemed to be in a good mood in the morning, so if that meant Bender had to skip school occasionally so that he could get the good stuff for cheap, so be it, it's wasn't as if school was high on his list of priorities anyway.

It's oddly homey there, the people that work there don't look down at him as if he's a piece of trash, they are loud and have probably eight or nine teeth between the three of them, but at least when Bender walks in they actually greet him like he's not the scum of the earth.

"Well isn't it mighty fine to see you on such a glorious morning young Bender."

Joe is the type of man who will never recover from the years of smoking meth. He's so skinny Bender wonder's how he even manages to pick up the heavy car part he's luging into the back of his pickup. Even his face makes Bender depressed, that gaunt sad pox marked face. That's the face only a mother could love, if she happened to be blind that is.

"You got my Battery, Joe?"

The southern gives him a one tooth smiled. "Take a seat and I shall be with you shortly."

Bender takes a seat in one of the longue chairs located outside the unofficial 'office' area. It consists of Joe's double wide trailer and his pickup truck and what bender assumes is some form of outhouse. He pulls his shades up on to his head, staring out at the hundreds of smashed up cars and bikes. It would be easy to sneak in at night, look for the shit he needs and steal it, but Joe's a good guy, and that's not really benders style.

"No battery." He finally hears as Joe comes back into view carrying a large box in his arms. "But I got a bunch of other parts that I think you might find useful." He drops the box at the teen's feet and takes a seat in the longue chair next to him. Bender rummages though and actually managing to find some stuff he needs. Joe actually did alright on this one. "I'll give you fifty for the parts I want."

Joe ponders for a bit as he pulls a cigarette from his pocket and places it between his lips. "Eighty."

"Seventy. But you have to throw in an ounce as well."

The older guy laughs as he lights up, but he nods all the same. "Fair enough."

Shermer isn't the worst place on earth, but like every town it has the good part and the bad part, Bender just happens to live in the incredibly shit part. The bus back has to travel through the good part, and as soon as people get on the bus they always avoid him. He can't help that his look just screams vandal to them, then again, he doesn't really care much.

Bender arrives home by lunch, pleased to see that his dad's car is still gone from the front of the house. He dumps the box of parts in his room and pry's up the floor board so he can put the forty dollars that's left over back in the jar. He throws his coat and sunglass onto the end of his bed before heading to the kitchen to grab himself a beer and the box of lucky charms he stashed away so his dad wouldn't get to them first.

Bender settles on the couch, picking marshmallows from the box one by one, chucking them in the air and catching them expertly in his mouth, rewarding himself with a swig of beer every fourth marshmallow or so.

He was up late reading, drowning out the sounds of his parents shouts with Cream as he read through another four chapters. Then it suddenly hits him. "Shit…it's Wednesday."

He secretly wishes he had just kept his mouth shut in class, just sat there and slept for the hour instead of having to stick his stupid hand up and make a fuss out of not having a partner, but he never could help himself. No one would care if he didn't show up, especially that girl, Janis, even though she did ask him to. He sighs slightly. They had been in the same class for three years and he had only learnt her name two days ago. He had seen her around school, she was pretty enough, but it was obvious they were both in very different circles, she actually showed up to lessons, and she worked on the god damn year book of all things. He thought only riches did that. Maybe she was one; she didn't dress like it though.

He looks over at the clock, it's already pretty late in the day but if he left now he might only be five minutes late, but at least he would get there eventually. He let out a small huff of air. He wouldn't have even considered this before Saturday. That fucking detention had messed around with his head. No. He wasn't going. Fuck her, fuck that stupid class.

Bender drains the last of the beer and slams the empty bottle on the table. "God damn it." He stands and rolls his eyes as he goes into his bedroom to grab his coat and sunglasses, shoving his wallet and her book into his pockets before heading out the front door. He was getting soft, and he didn't like it.

Even though he walked at a slightly faster speed than usual he still manages to arrive five minutes late. It's deserted as he enters the school, everyone's in lessons, so he reckons he should be able to make it to the classroom without being spotted.

"Bender!"

Vernon. Typical. Just the sound of his voice makes Bender want to punch a wall.

"Why aren't you in class, Bender?"

Bender pulls his sunglasses up. "Well, Dick, I had an important meeting that I simply could not miss."

"Empty your pockets. Now."

"I don't think you can ask me to do that sir."

"I can ask you to do whatever I god damn like. Empty them."

Bender clenches his jaw as he pulls out his wallet, his keys and the book; luckily the weed was still with the car parts. The only thing Vernon seems to be interested in was the book, which he snatches from Benders hands.

"I wasn't aware you could read, Bender."

He wants to bark back, but he forces himself to stare directly at Vernon and keep his mouth shut. .

"And I'm expected to believe you've changed your name to Janis Hunter?"

Shit. Of course she wrote her name in it. "She let me borrow it, Rich. I was behind in Lit."

"Well I believe you are definitely behind in all your classes, Bender. But why would Miss Hunter give a second thought about a degenerate like you?"

One more year. One more year then he could punch Vernon's lights out. "I just so happen to be on my way to that class, you can ask her yourself if you like." Fuck. Why did he say that?

"I might just do that. Front and centre Bender."

Bender let out a small groan as soon as Vernon turned. That was another fucking Saturday that was going to be wasted when he could have been spending it fixing his bike or doing anything else but sat in the stupid library all day. He followed Vernon all the way to the classroom, resisting every urge he had to kick the vice principal right in the ass several times on the way.

Two kids he wasn't sure the names of were already at the front speaking by the time they arrived. Bender leans his back against the hall way wall, staring at the lockers opposite as he listens to Vernon interrupt the class.

"I need a word with Miss Hunter."

He hears the scrap of a chair and listens to her footsteps walk out into the hall. His eyes lock with hers and she shoots him a curious look as she stands in the middle of the hall. She's dressed more like a human today, that stupid tweed skirt replaced by jeans, converse and a Springsteen t-shirt, although she's still wearing that same grey jacket from the other day.

"I found your book in Mr Bender's possession."

Her eyes roam over the book, then to Bender, before finally landing back on Vernon. "Oh. And?"

It was clear that wasn't the reaction Vernon was looking for, it certainly wasn't the one Bender had expected. Despite her attitude of not giving a fuck about it, Vernon continues to question her. "Did you allow him to borrow it?"

"Well he lost his copy," she immediately replies, "so I said he could borrow mine for a couple of days. You know, since he was so behind."

Was this girl a mind reader? Not only was she covering for him but she even used the same story. Bender knew it was only a book, that it didn't matter in the long run, but if Vernon could give Bender a detention for sneezing he probably would.

"Are you sure, Hunter?" Vernon asked, Bender could see him getting more enraged by the second, and he had to fight hard to supress the smirk.

"Yes sir. I even saw him before class and asked if I could have it back, to check some quotes for the presentation and he went to get it for me."

The corner of Benders mouth lifted a little. She was good at bullshitting, he'd give her that, and she did have that whole big doe eyed thing going on for her. Still, he couldn't believe Vernon was eating this shit up.

Obviously not satisfied, but unable to do anything about it, Vernon hands the book back to Janis. "Back to class, both of you."

Bender opened the door, and like a gentlemen allowed her to go through first, mainly so he can flash a final smug glance at Vernon. When she sat back in her seat, he dumped his coat on the desk behind before choosing the sit next to her this time. He wasn't at all surprised by the questioning glance she gave him, but his eyes stay on her a bit longer than he had intended them to after she looks away.

The two at the front carry on talking. Bender leans closer to Janis, talking in a low voice. "Why'd you do that?"

Janis slides her notebook over to him, the small speech on the page it's open to. Her eyes look over to the teacher to make sure he's not paying attention before answering. "I write it, you read it."

"No."

"I covered for you. I didn't have to."

"So? I should be thankful that you're an idiot?"

She glares angrily at him and grabs the notebook back. "Forget it." She mutters under her breath. "Why did you even bother to show up at all?"

He leans back in his chair, holding back what he wants to say, that he in fact had nothing better to do. It's partly true at least. He's not going to tell her he did it simply because she had asked and no one had ever actually ask him to help them with a class before. That would be stupid.

"Mr Bender. Miss Hunter. You two next."

Besides, she did cover for him, no ever usually does that. Before she can stand Bender grabs the notebook from in front of her, shooting her a scowl before strolling up to the front of the class. He stands up straight, clears his throat, eyes glancing over to Janis who's still sitting in her seat, albeit with a surprised look on her face. Several of the class laugh slightly but a dirty look in their direction soon shuts them up.

So he reads, his eyes not once moving up from the paper or her neat handwriting, but he makes sure that his voice remains in the same bored condescending tone, the same bored look on his face, just to get the point across that he in fact does care about any of this. As he drones on he starts wondering why she cared so bloody much that he read it out. Finally he forces his eyes to look over to her, and she's looking directly at him, a small smile on her lips.

When he's finally finished, which feels like years later, he finally looks up to see everyone's stunned faces. Even Brannigan. It wasn't like he had written the bloody thing. "Uh, that was good, very good. You can sit down now."

He drops down back in his seat as the teacher calls the next person to read. He leans back, eyes glancing over to Janis who's listening to the new people at the front, until finally he catches her, looking towards him and smiling slightly. She finally pulls her notebook towards her and opens to a fresh page, scribbling something down before sliding it back over to him.

_We're still not even._

* * *

_**A/N:** So yeah, I've seen a few fics on where John/oc rush into things and end up declaring their undying love for each other after a week, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I prefer a slow burn ;)_


	3. Chapter 3

Bender had discovered Janis's locker was just down the hall from his. He stood there after class, watching her as she pulled out various books and shoved them into her bag. "She's a dweeb." He said softly to himself as he grabbed his spare pack of cigarettes out of his locker. "She writes her name in her god damn books." But he looked over again, feeling his gut hurt as he did. He slammed the locker shut he and padlocked it closed, but by the time he looked back, ready to march over there, she was gone.

During shop Bender convinced himself that he needed to talk to her, that he had to ask her what the hell she had meant by that. He didn't owe her anything, as far as he was concerned they were even. As he mindlessly sawed up bits of wood for an hour he thought about what he would say, and if he was going to be an asshole about it. It was so clear now why she had covered for him, she was clearly up to something. "Still not even." He muttered under his breath as he hammered the wood together. "We are so fucking even."

At the end of the day he waited outside the school for her to come out, but she never showed. So he walked across the field to find his friends Jim and Rusty behind the bleachers. They smoked pot and questioned him about his detention Saturday. Bender decided to keep his mouth shut about it.

By the time Bender gets home it's already dark, and his dad's pickups parked outside the house.

Bender stands there for several minutes staring at the old rusty auto mobile. His dad had decided to get drunk at home tonight, made a change. With a final sigh his makes his way to the front door, waiting outside a moment as his listens closely, at least the yelling hasn't started yet.

The first thing he hears when he opens the door is the heavy blur of the TV, and sure enough there's his dad sat in his chair, beer in one hand and cigar in the other. "You're late."

"Yeah well, I was busy." He glances over at his mum who's on the couch in her waitressing clothes.

"At school?" She asks, even though her voice sounds completely disinterested.

"Yeah, at school."

His dad scoffed and drained off the rest of the bottle. "I know where you go you little Jerk. I know what you do."

Bender forced another glare at his father before going to his room, making sure not to slam the door shut behind him. Last time he did that he ended up with a black eye. He empties his pockets onto his nightstand and threw off his coat and scarf, but there was something missing. He rolled his eyes. Vernon gave the book back to Janis.

He pressed play on the record player before falling back onto the bed, hoping the sounds of The Doors will put him in a better mood. He felt like such an idiot. Standing up in front of that class, reading out all the shit. He knew why he did though, he wasn't stupid. And it wasn't just because she had covered for him. He had done a lot of stupid shit for pretty girls, but never school work.

Bender was on the verge of sleep when he heard his mum's voice call out for dinner. He didn't want to sit at a table with his dad and feel his eyes burn into him. He was about to call out that he wasn't hungry but him stomach betrayed him, rumbling slightly as he sighed. This was twenty minutes he was not looking forward to.

They were both sat at the small kitchen table when he walked in, already starting their meals without him. He glanced up at his dad before taking a seat, but kept his eyes on his meal as he started to fork down the potatoes and meatloaf.

"You decided to go to school then."

Bender didn't feel like giving his dad the satisfaction of telling where he had spent most of the day. "What of it?"

"What lessons did you have?"

He keeps his eyes on the lukewarm food. "English. Shop."

He heard the bang on the table and moved his eyes up to the empty beer bottle that now sat there. Shit. Bender could have kicked his own ass then. It was such a rooky mistake, but at the time he hadn't even thought about getting rid of the bottle like he usually did.

"Well since you were apparently in class, how did one of my beers get from the fridge to the living room?"

"No idea." He immediately spat out, but he knew it was a mistake to have said anything. He wasn't going to win this fight.

"Did you earn the money to buy that you little jerk? What makes you think that you can just take whatever you goddamn feel like?"

Bender dropped his fork onto his plate and leaned back in the chair, glaring straight at his dad. "Well I didn't earn the money for the fucking food but I still get to eat that!"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that you waste of space. Don't you fucking dare."

Bender clenched his fists. Couldn't he go one day without this shit going on?

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Bender forced himself not to scowl at his mother as he started to breathe harder from the anger that was building up inside him. He hated when his mother did that, stuck up for the man who bloody beat her, maybe she thought if she took his dad's side he might not turn on her, but it rarely worked.

"No mom, not a damn thing."

The bottle came flying at his head, but with years of practice he ducked it just before it came into contact with his skull, smashing against the wall behind him instead.

Bender stood, ignoring the shouts from his father as he heading for front door, slamming it so hard the windows rattled. .

He had done it a thousand times before; if his dad was going to go after him he would have come tearing out that front door seconds after Bender had. Now he would have to spend a few hours walking around, probably until late. He knew from routine it would take his dad at least two hours to calm down from that, four before he passed out in a drunken stupor on the couch.

He walked up the main street, keeping his head down and flicking the collar of his jacket up to fight the chill of the cold Shermer air, his stomach rumbling from lack of food. He could go sit on that diner on the corner, but if he only ordered tap water they would kick him out after ten minutes. So he roots around in all his pockets, thankful when he hears the jingle of change in his jeans and pulls out the coins. Three dollars and thirty four cents. At least he could get some food.

The warm air hitting his face is almost a blessing, there are a few people lingering around, but it doesn't matter, he could probably spend a good hour here and no one would bother him. After that he would need to find somewhere new to go. Maybe that motorcycle bar down on regent, he could play pool and maybe win a couple of bucks while he was at it, but for the moment food was his main priority.

He takes a seat on one of the stools at the counter and the tired looking skinny waitress with grey streaks in her blonde hair pulls out her pad. "What'd be Hun?"

"Coffee and a hamburger."

"You want fries?"

He looks at the prices. "Yeah, why not."

She brings the coffee over first and he sweetens it to his liking, no milk, he prefers it strong. The hot coffee hits his throat and it instantly warms him down to his core. He glances at the old man down the end of the bar who's shakily eating the apple pie in front of him, and there's a table with a group of guys he doesn't recognize laughing and making a mess.

He almost chokes on the coffee when he sees Janis sat in one of the booths. One arm propping her head up as she reads the magazine in front of her. She doesn't notice him watching her, she seems to be in her own little word as she flicks the page and sucks gently on the straw of her drink.

He finally looks away, eyes glancing down into his black coffee. Sighing slightly he debates if he should go over there. He did want to ask her what the hell she meant, but they were outside of school now, she probably wouldn't want to be seen him anyway.

He forces his head back to her, but this time she's looking at him. Well, he was going to have to go over there now.

Bender places his coffee onto the table before taking the seat on the other side of the booth, sitting in the corner and throwing one leg up so his foot is dandling off the side of the seat. "You stalking me now?" He asks as he pulls his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and places one between his lips.

"I was in here before you were."

"Yeah well, I've never seen you here before."

"Or just weren't aware of me before."

She was right. He could have seen her sat here a thousand times and he probably wouldn't have paid much notice. When he was fresh from a fight with his dad he didn't pay much attention to anything. "So what are you doing here anyway?" He finally asks.

"Waiting for food."

He shoots her a blank stare. "I meant…alone."

"Why are you?" She asks back. Instead of choosing to answer, he places the cigarette between his lips and snatches the magazine from underneath her hands.

"Going to take that too?"

"You didn't have to cover for me." He snaps at her but his eyes remain down, staring at the picture of Lou Reed.

"_You_ didn't have to lie to me. I said I didn't mind that you had it."

"Then why do you care so much?"

She leans back in her seat, sighing as she rolls her eyes. The silence stretches out between them, but he's avoiding her gaze, instead looking at the magazine even though he's not reading the words.

"Did you know you're bleeding?"

Benders head snaps up. "What?"

"Right there," she starts to reach a hand up but pulls it back, placing it in her lap. "On your forehead. I can, "

He's already stubbing the cigarette out and standing from the table, heading straight to the bathroom. In the dirty mirror he can see the cut just under his hairline. A bit of glass must have caught him after all. He swears under his breath as he start to clean it up, the wound stinging slightly as he splashes the cold water against his face. It's a small cut, he's just glad he won't have to go to the hospital to get stitches, again.

As he walks back he sees the waitress setting down a plate of waffles in front of Janis who says thanks you as she pulls the plate towards her. When he reaches them the older woman turns to him, raising an eyebrow. "You staying over here now?"

Benders eyes look over at Janis who is now pouring syrup all over everything on her plate. "What do you say Hunter? Mind if I dine with you?

"If you really want to."

The waitress rolls her eyes as she wanders off to serve an elderly couple that have just entered.

When he sit back down she doesn't question him about the cut or how it happened, but he's glad, he doesn't feel like trying to avoid all the questions that usually fly at him from people, and he doesn't want to think about it. It would just make him angry. "Isn't it a bit late for waffles." He mumbled as he picked up his stubbed out cigarette, seeing if he could salvage it.

She watches him as she chews the mouthful slowly. "Waffles are my favourite. I could eat them for every meal."

"You'd get sick of them eventually."

"I've thought about that. But there are so many different kinds, flavours, extras, so every meal I would have a different kind, and I would never get sick of them."

"That's fucking stupid." Bender was surprised by the sad look he received from her when he said those words. Being an asshole was just a natural reaction to having someone he didn't know all that well talk to him. "I guess I'm just not a big waffle fan." He added on and threw the cigarette back onto the table.

His plate is suddenly being placed in front of him and he can't help but shove a few fries into his mouth immediately, not even thanking the waitress as she gives him a disgusted look before leaving.

As Bender takes a large bite out of the burger he sees Janis is watching him, eyebrows close together as she slowly chews her own food.

"Why did you cover for me with Vernon?" He suddenly asks, only half the words manage to make it out since his mouth is full of food, but she seems to understand.

"Cause Vernon's a dick." At least that was something the both agreed on. " Besides, it's only a book. I knew you had it anyway."

"How?"

"Because I'm not stupid. It's not like I would've needed to call Columbo about it."

More silence, well, all that can be heard is Benders chewing.

"Do you at least like the book?" She asks as she takes another bite of her own food.

Bender waits. Chewing slowly on his mouthful and only answering once he swallowed it. "It's fine. That Harper Lee dude's alright."

"Harper Lee is a she." He glares at her as he shoves several fries into his mouth, noting the small smile on her lips as she takes another delicate bite of waffle. "I'm surprised you haven't asked me yet."

"About what?"

"There not even thing." She smiles again "You looked so mad when you read it."

He had actually forgotten about it. But since she brought it up. "We are even. I did it, I read the damn thing."

"So? I wrote it. I did all the work. You just had to stand up there and look pretty."

"I look pretty huh?" He raised a brow and shot her a smirk, pleased to see that she was slightly smiling back.

"You know what I mean. Anyway, the whole thing was very surprising."

"Surprised I could read?" It's what Vernon would have been shocked at. Knowing Bender could read probably gave the old sod a small heart attack. But he wasn't expecting yet another sad look from her.

"What? No. That, you even cared, if I'm being honest."

"I couldn't give two shits about the class." He says matter-of-factly.

"Not that. About – " She sighs and leans back in her chair. "Forget it."

"What?"

She's using her fork to push the last bits of waffles around her plate, soaking up the last remaining bits of syrup. "That you cared what I thought about you."

He drops the last bit of his burger onto his plate. "Come again?"

"You cared what I thought?" she repeated. "Because if you didn't care you wouldn't of even bothered showing up to class. Let alone actually get up and read it out when you didn't want to."

"I did it cause you covered for me, sweets." Bender pushes his plate away, leaning forward on the table and weaving his fingers together. "You think I give a shit about what you think?"

Janis shrugged as she pulled her bag strap over her head. "If you don't, why did you even show to the class in the first place?" She stood and grabbed her magazine from his side of the table before placing some money down and walking out.

Bender pulled the money out of his Jean, slamming it down on the table before grabbing his jacket and following her. "You must think you're pretty fucking special if you think I showed up for you.

She was knelt down by a bike, unlocking the chain, but she shoots a look his way as she stands back up and places the chain in her bag. "You don't give a shit about anything. I get it." Janis climbed onto the bicycle and started to riffle around in her bag, pulling the book out. "Here." She threw it towards him and he caught it expertly with one hand. "Even though you don't give a shit, you might as well finish it."

He stood there, staring at the cover for a moment before his eyes finally moved to her. "Why do you give a shit?"

She shrugs. "Someone has to."

As she cycles off Bender contemplates throwing the book into the gutter, but in the end he decides to pocket it instead.

* * *

_**A/N:** Let me know what you think. If you think Bender is OOC. I'm still working out how to write him :)_


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